fresco

[fres-koh] /ˈfrɛs koʊ/
noun, plural frescoes, frescos.
1.
Also called buon fresco, true fresco. the art or technique of painting on a moist, plaster surface with colors ground up in water or a limewater mixture.
Compare fresco secco.
2.
a picture or design so painted.
verb (used with object), frescoed, frescoing.
3.
to paint in fresco.
Origin
1590-1600; < Italian: cool, fresh (< Gmc)
Related forms
frescoer, frescoist, noun
Examples from the web for fresco
  • IN simplest terms, fresco work is the painting of murals on wet mortar.
  • Shades of a cobalt blue fresco can be found above the stepped altar.
  • Great hall with fresco ceiling, dripping with chandeliers.
  • The families on the lower floors would open folding tables and dine al fresco on the street.
  • Drawing room, bar, south-facing conservatory restaurant with terrace for al fresco dining.
  • Look for hidden bits of fresco, preserved mosaic flooring, and millstones for grinding grain back when business was booming.
  • Bring repellent for evening dining al fresco, or buy some at a local pharmacy.
  • The cartographer noticed a partial fresco of birds in one building that matched a painting in the structure next door.
  • Painting could make a representation appear to be three-dimensional, but a painted fresco or picture was truly a flat surface.
  • As day transitions into night, the ship's teak-covered sun decks are transformed into beautiful al fresco dining venues.
British Dictionary definitions for fresco

fresco

/ˈfrɛskəʊ/
noun (pl) -coes, -cos
1.
a very durable method of wall-painting using watercolours on wet plaster or, less properly, dry plaster (fresco secco), with a less durable result
2.
a painting done in this way
Word Origin
C16: from Italian: fresh plaster, coolness, from fresco (adj) fresh, cool, of Germanic origin
Word Origin and History for fresco
n.

1590s, in fresco, literally "in fresh," with a sense of "painted on fresh mortar or plaster," from Italian fresco "cool, fresh," from Proto-Germanic *friskaz (see fresh (adj.1)).

fresco in Culture

fresco definition


A painting on wet plaster. When the plaster dries, the painting is bonded to the wall. Fresco was a popular method for painting large murals during the Renaissance. The Last Supper, by Leonardo da Vinci, is a fresco, as are the paintings by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel.

fresco in Technology

1. An object-oriented API for graphical user interfaces, under development by the X Consortium as an open, multi-vendor standard.
2. An object-oriented specification language.
["Refinement in Fresco", in Object Oriented Specification Case Studies, K. Lano et al eds, P-H 1993].
(1996-04-28)